Tamara Obrovac Enchanted the Audience / Valamar Jazz Festival 2011.
Tamara Obrovac with her Transhistria ensemble and the string virtuosos of Epoque Quartet has once again given an unforgettable concert interwoven with jazz, classical music and a pronounced Mediterranean spirit… the live performance offered a great dialogue of the Czech string players and Transhistria ensemble musicians and enchanted the audience in the Euphrasian Basilica, the same way that the album Madirosa enchants its listeners.
Tibor Toromanović, Glas Istre, daily paper, 08.07.2011.
“Musical Document from Eternity of Universe”
The songs on this album are complex, but in Tamara’s interpretation they seem a piece of cake – they sound flippant, dancing, as if that very combination of words and music was recorded in the eternity of the universe, just waiting for someone to translate it into the language of us mere mortals.
Although the music on Tamara’s seventh album will thrill you right from the very first hearing, its true value, like the value of the most valuable achievements of the world art, will be disclosed only when you hear it again and again, and you will simply keep listening to it time after time because every new listening will reveal some new filigree details, new sounds, new discreet interactions, new emotions, new refinement, new charm...
In the interpretations included in this album, Tamara artlessly and logically unites a serious approach and joke, tradition and modernity, classical music and ethno, formal demands and freedom, melody and improvisation, regional and middle-European.
Her music is unique, but also universal, close to a man who is plowing the red Istrian soil, but also to every human being who feels the beauty of the fruits yielded by the soil of any color.
Davor Hrvoj 06.2011.
“Challenges never end”
With Tamara Obrovac, one is never bored. After all musical surprises and changes, this tireless artist with fascinating creative tempo and even more fascinating creative collaborations and results has now offered us an album decisively marked by the sound and atmosphere of a string quartet.
Classical music has thus officially entered into the world of Tamara's music in this undoubtedly most complex and most ambitious album, entitled Madirosa, from which an attentive listener will get a myriad of different amazing details.
Mix Epoque String Quartet's excellent sense of dramatic with Transhistria Ensemble's subtle improvisations, add the singer with striking emotiveness and even more amazing expressiveness, and you get Madirosa: the album which demands a lot, but gives even more, and most of all shows that the creativity of Tamara Obrovac and her five-man squad has no limits.
Pavle Vukšić muzika.hr 29.06.2011.
Healing, intimate sailing of Tamara Obrovac through the Mediterranean and its historical multiculturality
On her eighth album entitled Madirosa, Tamara and her multiethnic Transhistria Ensemble supported by the Czech string quartet Epoque, give shape to the primeval spirit of the Mediterranean as the cradle of European culture.
In Tamara's Mediterranean spirit, culture and world, there is space not only for blending of jazz and Istrian ethno to which we are accustomed in her distinctive artistic style, but also for numerous other influences, from those Italian and Portuguese to those Spanish and Arabic, and for a series of musical epochs, from renaissance and baroque to post-modern crossovers of jazz and classical music and that which we clumsily refer to as world music
In each of the ten elegant songs recorded on Madirosa, Tamara sounds traditional but at the same time open to different influences, in order to turn that mixture into something like a piece of pan-cultural contemporary art with pronounced multiethnic and regional vein.
„Madirosa“, an invented word which is for Tamara the symbol of „Mediterranean rose, but also of her own personal perception of the Mediterranean as a cultural and musical universe“, is seemingly a simple and unassuming, but actually a multi-layered, virtuoso album about the search for love and loss of love, and it is wonderful to abandon oneself to its backwaters as if wandering through the Istrian heartland in order to find always something else that you haven't yet seen or experienced.
Recorded in only two days in studio, Madirosa is an acoustic album which includes a broad spectrum of musical experiences and it is a pleasure to lose oneself in such a deep, suggestive, magical work of art, compared to which the music of even Gotan Project and Madredeus sounds shallow and one-dimensional.
Aleksandar Dragaš, Jutarnji list, June 14, 2011
Immediately after the opening song of the concert, the two musicians performed the composition which is the combination of their two songs (Tamara's Carisa and Karen's No name). At that moment, the audience was given an opportunity to enjoy a musical fairy-tale in which the two songs flowed one into another in an extraordinarily natural and easy way. The fourth song of the concert (Črni malin/Spring) was performed in the same way. It was in those „joint songs“ that the two musicians clearly expressed how much they share in common, from their „signatures“ as composers combining his or her own tradition and jazz, to the honest and direct relationship with the audience and giving themselves fully to the music they perform.
However, besides the musical chemistry between these two musicians, we have to mention the striking mutual understanding of other musicians, the members of Tamara's and Karen's ensembles.
In almost two hours of great music, the insatiable audience enjoyed ten numbers by IstrArmenia Ensemble and the encore which presented the combination of Tamara's song Črno zlo and an Armenian folk song. However, only those who have never been to Tamara's concert would think that the concert ended in a classical way. Namely, Tamara rapped in Istrian dialect, with Karen singing simultaneously in Armenian and playing on a bottle (the way that a flute is normally played), thus provoking a musical cabaret in which the audience took part as well, performing both Istrian and Armenian musical miniatures, guided by Tamara and Karen. It all ended to general satisfaction with the song Oči čarnije, laughter and the roar of applause.
Zorana Jagodić
Index.hr portal, 15.02.2011.
http://www.index.hr/xmag/clanak/istroarmenska-rapsodija-tamara-obrovac-i-karen-asatrian-odusevili-istarsko-narodno-kazaliste/538084.aspx
Musical Journey from Istria to Armenia
The thunderous applause for Tamara Obrovac, Karen Asatrian and their colleagues echoed throughout the INK Theater on Monday. The Istrian musician has showed she can attract the audience and let them have the experience of the journey from Istria to Armenia.
...During the concert, everybody on the stage was fully into what they were performing, and the musical journey included the verses of the Istrian poetess Loredana Bogliun as well. The concert was crowned by the encore consisting of Tamara's song Črno zlo. The good atmosphere reached its peak with the unusual vocal-instrumental communication flowing between Karen Asatrian, Tamara Obrovac and the audience.
Mladen Radić
Glas Istre, 15.02.2011.
http://www.glasistre.hr/showbiz/vijest/318879
Review of Transhistria ensemble concert at Felbach, Germany, July 31, 2010
The second part of the evening was marked by the unbelievable ability of Tamara Obrovac to adapt her voice with ease and change its timbre. Screaming and cooing, tremolo and panting, whispering and squeaking – the voice of Tamara Obrovac always sounds clear; even the short sound check between the two tunes seems like recitative; in the long improvisations of her fellow musicians, she embarks into a dialogue with their instruments, following their timbre.
The old folk songs and dances, the lyrics written in the obsolete Roman dialects – the buried treasures from Tamara's homeland Istria are joined with the pure jazz rhythm. And her band, Transhistria ensemble, also seems like a historical picture of Istria... The band consists of masterfully chosen group of young virtuosos, who bow with the full respect to their female leader, but also help each other in mutual cooperation.
A beautiful, intense evening, the evening that remained intense even in its quiet moments, which was recognized by the audience and rewarded accordingly with a thundering applause.
Felbacher zeitung, 02.08. 2010.
INK Theatre in Pula was packed full by all those who came last night to listen to the first concert of Istria-Ireland Ensemble.
The hubbub in the hall subsided the very minute that the performers - Tamara Obrovac, Úna Ní Fhlannagáin, Martin Tourish, Uroš Rakovec, Goran Rukavina and Dušan Kranjc – stepped out onto the stage.
For the opening, Úna Ní Fhlannagáin sang in Irish dialect, followed by Tamara Obrovac, and the fusion between the two compositions was so harmonious that they sounded like one, although it was a combination of two different traditions, melodic expressions and languages.
During the concert, the audience was in an almost meditative state. Because, when Irish tunes were played, the sound of harp evoked the image of wide Irish pastures, and when Tamara sang, the first association was Istria, its olive trees and soil.
The music was permeated with emotions to such an extent that it almost allegorically converted the sounds into the images which were probably the source of inspiration for the composers.
The members of Istria-Ireland Ensemble in all their differences made a coordinated whole which took the audience to a unique journey imbued by bits of Istrian and Irish dialectal and musical heritage. And those two worlds, although miles distant, have blended into a fairy-tale whole which will be long remembered.
S. Ergotić, Glas Istre, daily paper, 16. 02.2010
Tamara Obrovac and Rambo Amadeus held concerts at Boogaloo Club on Saturday.
The first one to perform was Tamara with two backup singers and her ensemble, composed mostly of her longtime associates. Although with the title of her latest album Tamara has said that she will “no longer sing jazz”, that is fortunately far from being true.
Tamara and her band still play the best fusion of jazz, funk and ethno (Istrian) music in Croatia. For the time being, both on the album and at the concert at Boogaloo, the funk component of that fusion is more pronounced. The communicative Tamara, bursting with energy, had no problem in engaging the audience, and with her kind of music, dancing was inevitable.
The material from “I won’t sing jazz any more”, performed alive, has proved to be even more efficient.
Marko Vukušić, muzika.hr, October 5, 2009. Monday, 18:45
At the packed Boogaloo, for the price of one ticket, the audience got two decently long sets of stylistically compatible and talkative performers in the total duration of about three hours. Tamara Obrovac, accompanied by the sextet of the experienced musicians and two backup singers has again proved to be the real master in eclectic fusion of musical genres.
With her fascinating voice and singing skills, she easily goes from jazz and funk to ethno, canzone and rock, with a series of witty announcements and multicultural patterns in which she, being Istrian, gets incredibly along … One applause after another rightly followed each of her smoothly and with pleasure performed song.
Aleksandar Dragaš, Jutarnji list daily paper, October 5, 2009.
It seems that with the new Transhistria ensemble Tamara Obrovac has finally found the accompanying musicians who are a perfect match to her charisma; to be more precise, the musicians who are capable to keep and expand all the energy that Tamara always radiates on the stage.
… “Neću više jazz kantat”/ "I won’t sing jazz any more" is what it is – by far the best album in the whole music career of Tamara Obrovac – primarily because of the great material in which it is difficult to say what is better: the new compositions of the Istrian diva or the superb, fully thought out versions of her older works.
If you add to that a more open, more pronounced poetic engagement than ever and the booklet with all the texts in Croatian and English, the conclusion begs to be made: Transhistria Electric and the Iron Istrian Lady have made the album of the year, probably of the five years, after which the band leader may not sing jazz any longer – but don’t worry: you should hear how she sings funk!
Pavle Vukšić, muzika.hr, Internet portal, April 27, 2009
http://www.muzika.hr/clanak/20759/recenzije-albuma/lady-kanta-funk-album-godine.aspx
Several remarkable new songs, the title song which is bound to be a hit, the imaginative remake of the Istrian folk song ”Predi šći moja” and the extended eight-minute-long version of the old favourite ”Črno zlo” have acquired the real funky groove into which the experienced jazz virtuosos such as the drummer Kruno Levačić, the Slovenian guitar-player Uroš Rakovec or the American piano player Joe Kaplowitz have fitted in remarkably well.
Even a greater success could be Tamara’s cooperation with the secret jazz fanatic Rambo Amadeus in the song entitled ”Turbo Funk”, which sounds like a witty parody of turbo-folk and the accompanying folk trash, but could easily become a specimen of the effective opposition to the regional epidemic of turbo-folk.
“I won’t sing jazz any more” is the most intriguing and the most complex album by Tamara Obrovac and if it reaches the international stage, the final result could be much more impressive than the media exaggerated nomination for the BBC World Music Award.
Ilko Čulić, Jutarnji list, daily paper, April 2, 2009.
To sum up, Tamara Obrovac and Transhistria Electric presented their new album “I won’t sing jazz any more” to the T-portal users and Radio 101 and Radio Pula listeners with the top-line concert which gave all the musicians the opportunity for their five minutes of glory of the solo interpretations. And all of them took it to their advantage – I’d like to point out the excellent Joe Kaplowitz at the keyboards, and Krunoslav Levačić who has such a deep understanding with Tamara and her musical lucidity that their scenic interaction seems like the superior music play.
Backup singers, who were also Tamara’s dance partners, added a new dimension to the vocal interpretation, and the winds gave it a dance funky air.
The last night’s remarkable concert of Tamara Obrovac and Transhistria Electric also announced the beginning of the cooperation between Radio 101 and T-portal, which means that from now on the live performances of the best Croatian bands can be not only listened to in the live transmission on Radio 101, but also visited at T-portal stream.
Although the Zdenko Runjić Award is traditionally given for the best remake of a song by Zdenko Runjić, this year the golden seagull with brilliants was awarded for the best artistic cooperation between the top-level musicians Tamara Obrovac and Matija Dedić, who simply enraptured the audience and their colleagues with their interpretation of the song “A vitar puše”.
Tamara Obrovac has performed at Runjić’s Evenings Festival four times already, and Matija Dedić three times, and it is interesting to mention that Tamara got this same award in 2006 for her interpretation of the song “U prolazu”. The award is given by the Croatian Composers’ Society and it was presented, as every year, by Ivo Josipović, the member of the presidency of the Croatian Composers’ Society.
Radio Dalmacija, News, September 1, 2009
Soundguardian, 05.10.08.
Tamara Obrovac and Transhistria Electric enraptured the audience of the first day of Nebo Festival on October 4 in Zagreb
Yesterday, this group of the top-level musicians showed us their other face – the face which can be clearly seen when these virtuosos plug their instruments in and get together with three young men who act as their brass section. Everything started with the obscure reggae version of the legendary Croatian song “Moj galebe”.
Tamara and the electric Transhistria sounded unbelievable; the remarkable, powerful sound filled every cubic millimeter of the hall… they moved from reggae to funk, from blues and jazz to rock, and before we knew it, Transhistria already wandered into psychedelic howling and mocking a capella experiments, with brilliant instrumental improvisations. Fabulous. No need to say that the concert was immensely amusing. In all that mixture of laughter and excellent music, I caught myself rummaging through my memory, trying to remember if I had ever been to such a crazy concert. Those who missed it should really be sorry. Tamara Obrovac and Transhistria Electric delighted us all with their ninety minutes of music.
Dejan Lončar
In this instrumental collaboration, Obrovac has managed to put together different musical forms and approaches into a compact product. Her regular collaborators – the virtuoso accordionist (and impressive singer) Fausto Beccalosi, the sensitive guitarist and mandolin player Uroš Rakovec, the reliable bass player Žika Golob and the vehement drummer Krunoslav Levačić – fitted perfectly with the extremely noble, unpretentious sound of the Czech string players.
The new songs which Tamara Obrovac prepared for the eight-member-orchestra (which she briefly joined on the flute) are very emotional love ballads in which words play a very important role. It is no coincidence that the working title of the project was “Mediterrando”, since Tamara is known for her openness to the influences of the heritage music of the wider Mediterranean circle. Her impressive voice and unstoppable scenic energy conquer the audience easily in this new edition as well.
Denis Derk, Večernji list, daily paper, 16.05.2008
The first time the festival was presented a Croatian artist - Tamara Obrovac - which with its Transhistria Ensemblom performed in his opening, completely equal footing with world stars.
Tamara Obrovac presented a powerful voice, singer, who sometimes assumes the role of musical instruments, large vocal capabilities that knowingly uses a sense of improvization special composer who has achieved genuine musical language.
D. Hrvoj
… at the opening of All Women Jazz Festival in ZeKaeM Theatre, temperamental Tamara has shown that she can easily compete with the greatest names of today’s music. With Transhistria ensemble which never loses its inspiration and the desire for improvisation, Tamara sounded fresh and extremely challenging again, mainly performing her well known compositions.
It was as if she were deconstructing each composition and word in a more radical (and musical) way, thus turning the inaugurating concert of an established, élite jazz festival into a Biennale-like laboratory of the new sound and stage performance which was at times deeply moving.
With Tamara Obrovac, all genre slots have long been rejected. What remains is the exciting voice which stretches with the volcanic energy across the whole musical universe.
Denis Derk, Večernji list, daily paper, Zagreb, 14.04.2008.
Only true artists who have impregnated their education and talent by own blood, only that they were able to come out of their own skin, associated himself at the same time, and a large audience, manage to reach the greatest height. Such things can Tamara Obrovac.
Zdravko Zima, columnist wrote that the experienced concert Tamara Obrovac Transhistria ensemble, a 10. April 2008. which is open Jazzarella festival in Zagreb.
Yes, so quickly went into the music of Tamara because it was not clear when they are with regge switched to funk, from fuzion in rock art, from improvisation to ... no matter that, again in the improvisation-or psycho sound which would not shy or Pink Floyd!
Electric versione Transhistria proved to be as skilful a lot of head sound plague that has everything under control and then, when you see and hear, off the pieces to its members discuss who has now incursion or solo, which will now play.
In short, Tamara's new construction in March was surprised and delighted.
At the concert Tamara Obrovac and its variants Transhistria Electric laugh and enjoyed Mario Batelič.
The project, which unites Tamara Obrovac, Transhistria Ensamble and the quartet Epoque is titled "Mediterrando." And in this new Tamar project remain the main characteristics of its main expression, then jazz, the music inspired Istria and vocal and instrumental bravure, and the greatest contribution to string quartet Epoque is some Central European framework in which they "completed" already rich Tamarinu music.
Quartet to assimilate very well in the music Transhistria Ensamble it was clear immediately after the first tango.
B.Vincek
Inspired – With inspired east-European improvisations that echoed from a Jazz basement through the whole universe, Croatian musician Tamara Obrovac and her ensemble Transhistria were the secret stars of the festival.
Susanne Sobko, Sangerkrieg festival, october 2006.
Performance in Schwarzer Hase, Beutelsau
Behind the term “Mediterranean-Balkan Ethno jazz” there is fresh, unexhausted and authentic music of Tamare Obrovac hidden there. It is influenced by local tradition and folk music, but the oriental sounds and a bit of rap music can be heard, with a great dose of modern Jazz harmony that interconnects all.
Musicians appear one by one, like a small cosmos that wonders here and there, moved by the drive of the music. Their sounds scatter, work in fragments that scrape and flow from one to another. Conventional roles of instruments are split apart and that contributes to weightless and circular music style, but all 5 musicians are still connected in a strange and inexplicable way.
Tamara Obrovac (Croatia), with her much nuanced and strictly controlled voice overpowers the hardest sound of rap, as well as oriental melizmatic melodies or simple full-tone parts of the songs from her homeland. Ziga Golob (Slovenia) with his contrabass appears as the singer’s partner and encompasses the melody. Fausto Beccalossi (Italy) with the accordion entices a bit of orchestral sound, casting various motives into it, while Uroš Rakovec (Slovenia) plays his guitar very classical with impressively delightful patterns of sound. The drum ritam of Krunoslav Levačić (Croatia) sounds like improvised and freely composed.
The music of Tamara Obrovac is fresh and unexhausted exactly because it connects the old traditions with modern elements which don’t flow in space irrespectively. It is, in its special way, on the ground.
Wangen/Hier & Heute, Schwabische Zeitung, 9. listopada 2006.
Enthusiastic response to unusual sounds of Tamara Obrovac and her ethno jazz
If you look for an artist from the Adriatic region, someone who successfully transposes traditional music and elements of jazz to music of the modern age, you will inevitably come across the singer, flute player and composer Tamara Obrovac. The kind of ethno jazz she developed has put the music and culture of her Croatian home country on the world music map.
Tamara has expressive and powerful voice, spanning three octaves without loosing any of the finest details in dynamic and intonation in the upper pitches. Although wrapped into a sound system that is new and special to our ears, her music is not hard to get used to.
The excellent international ensemble of Uros Rakovec (guitar, mandolin), Ziga Golob (bass) from Slowenia, Fausto Beccalossi (accordion) from Italy and Krunoslav Levacic, (drums) from Croatia, easily moved on to a free improvisation with intensive instrumental dialogue. Tamara joined humorously and flirtatiously with flute and vocal which culminated in long sensuous decrescendos. One simply felt transposed to the Adriatic coastline of Croatia.
Audience honoured the solo parts of the musicians again and again with spontaneous applause and cheerfulness which lasted throughout the evening.
Manfred van Os, Allgemeine Zeitung Coesfeld, 26. rujna, 2006.
Although Tamara Obrovac is presented everywhere in the world as Croatian and Istrian ethno-jazz musician, she sounds like she's coming from another world. Being miles away from a backwater of Croatian popular music - to which she, owing to circumstances, belongs - and from no ambitious, autarkic and small national jazz-community, Tamara performs on international stages without any complexes, collecting earned compliments of the critics. Her expression is not only local, but also intimate…
Tamara's new album is better than the previous one, the one that earned the nomination for the BBC Radio 3 World music Awards 2004. Even her singing is much warmer and feminine. «Is Faraway…» is equable, melodious, emotional album that echoes centuries-old tradition of Istrian convivenza, in which Slavic and Roman Sea touch in an unrepeatable way.
Draško Celing, Glas Slavonije, 20. 01. 2006.
„In 70 minutes of her new album, Tamara has shown she is completely ready for world's competition. “… «With her new material, she succeeded to get out of the narrow frame of the local tradition. By using some Italian ethno-elements, she has entered into much broader concept of neo-traditional Mediterranean music properly placed in many world music catalogues…“.
Ilko Čulić, Jutarnji list, 12.siječnja 2006.
Everybody who have earlier heard concert – or recorded – general places of Tamara's song-book are very much familiar with the exceptional music «performances» of her jazz players' crew: exceptional guitar player Uroš Rakovac, extraordinary bass player Žiga Golob, genius on drums Kruno Levačić and extraterrestrial accordion player Fausto Beccalossi.
Together with Tamara's well known vocal, but also with her instrumental tripping on flute, Transhistria ensemble, faceted on many, many live performances, could finally accomplished a huge breakthrough to the European music scene.
Zlatko Gall, Slobodna Dalmacija, 19. January 2006.
With the music on her new album, Tamara Obrovac, more than ever before, shows her authoring and interpretative maturity. Occupied by the form, musical aesthetic, deepening her exceptional approach inspired by Istrian musical heritage, she is also influenced by the musical traditions broth by the musicians with whom she constantly develops her songs. She succeeded to accomplish collectiveness and almost telepathic communication with the members of her ensemble, which is, along with her authoring ideas, the key to the success.
Contrary to her beliefs about concert album recording, where a perfection and ideal proportion of interpretation and concert atmosphere needs to be accomplished, I believe she has enough material for a CD that would display Transhistria in the real light, with exciting interactions, spontaneous improvisations and persuasiveness seldom heard on albums of other European musicians.
Davor Hrvoj, Novi list, 8. January 2006.
The night before Christmas Eve, Tamara Obrovac transhistria ensemble made the Culture Factory club in Zagreb blaze. The tickets were sold out already two hours before the concert and promotion of their new album „It's far away…“ began. The concert was shot through with the richness of jazz variations, vocal bravura, extremely imaginative and spiritual lyrics written in Istrian and Italian language. Tamara's vocal interpretation is a perfect jazz art which describes many different emotions (sadness, happiness, menopause, erotic, humour…), and her ensemble is an excellent quartet compound of extremely professional and talented musicians.
Tamara is also a great entertainer. She was called back on stage even two times, performed an informal and refreshing mix of rock'n'roll and jazz vibrations with frenetically scatterbrained and crazy vocabulary. She is a great artist and a real star. She showed once again that she enthuses many critics and the audience with a good reason, not only in our country but around the world.
One of the best domestic concerts I have ever seen!
Vladimir Horvat, barikada.com/terapija.net, 27. prosinca 2005.
A concert of Enver Izmailov and Tamara Obrovac in Freiburger Jazz-Gipfel
… a true discovery and, in any case, the culmination of the whole festival was Tamara Obrovac. Istrian singer surprised with consecutive independence and unpretentious presentation on the stage. Constant returns to the freedom of jazz enable her to live through her fascinating individuality. She uses her voice boundlessly, going from low alto to high soprano, adding unique vibrations by taping her neck with her palm. Precisely at midnight, a stentorian applause of trilled audience resounded through the music hall in Freiburg.
Reiner Kobe, Badische Zeitung, September 12th 2005
Unusual ingredients from a master’s workshop
Tamara Obrovac has published her fourth album
“Everything passes” sounds, first of all, unbearably light, regardless of its display of musical forms that are not light at all. In a filigree-like performance full of details, with miniatures played on the accordion, the mandolin and the drums, the supporting musicians excellently complement Tamara’s vocal lead, equally effective when singing out the lyrics or when vocalising, when she becomes an additional solo instrument.
Hrvoje Horvat, Vjesnik, Zagreb, March’03
Croatian, so called, “Ethno-jazz“ band Tamara Obrovac & Transhistria Ensemble, whose performance was filled with soundness, energy and completely different music mentality than the one domestic audience have assimilated so far, made the biggest impression on visitors of Saulkrasti jazz festival.
Already with the first notes, Obrovac introduced completely different musical thinking and world – by vibrato and fluctuations of her vocal from the lowest to the highest, Obrovac really surprised everybody present. She wields with her voice equally good as a poet wields with his rhyme, a hockey player with hic puck, a chemist with Mendeleev's periodic table. She sometimes even overbears the instruments with her voice.
Particular impression on the audience was also made by emotions of the accordion player, visible through his pronounced mimicry.
By maximum of persuasiveness and appreciable wittiness (so called erotic composition made people laugh on several occasions) accompanied, of course, by faultlessly arranged and reconciled music expression, Obrovac simply captivated the audience.
Ikars Kublinsˇ, «Apollo» Pirmdiena, August 1st, Latvia 2005
As it could have been expected, the epithet of the main attraction of the evening, and perhaps of the whole festival as well, pertained to Tamara Obrovac & Transhistria Ensemble. Base of their music is Istrian national heritage, arranged through moments of jazz, classical music and even tango, but also through long fragments of completely unusual sound that can hardly fit in standard genre classification.
Dynamic and melodious. Loud as much as gentle, warm and sophisticated. Not pathetic whatsoever. Occasionally ferocious but not aggressive.
Workmanship of the band members, their attractive solo jaunts and, among all, vast vocal capacity of Tamara Obrovac, her charm and untrammeled, honest, facetious and seductive performance, will be memorized for a long time.
D. Domanovic, Gradjanski, Novi Sad (Serbia Montenegro), May 25th 2004.
Fortunately, the random nature of an awards compilation like this provides the opportunity to browse and skip and fall headlong for something you've never heard before. In my case, the "blind date" artist is Tamara Obrovac. Cansoneita (A Small Song) performed by Obrovac with the Transhistria Ensemble, is a floating, beguiling track, with spacious drumming, tuneful accordion and a delicious lead vocal by Obrovac. (She is from Croatia, nominated for the European section eventually won by the great Ojos De Brujo.)
John L Walters, Friday, February 20th, 2004
Was that jazz or folk? In any case, it was experience.
Tamara Obrovac and her Transhistria Ensemble were guests in Martinikirche in Siegen. Ecstatic, brave, melancholic, all together – strong experience. “This evening, no one had to dance with the wolves”.
Amazing tones were healing the ears of domestic audience. We heard modern Croatian music, cheerful, enriched with jazz and traditional sound. Wind was blowing from south-east of Istria, the homeland of Tamara Obrovac. It is where she gets an inspiration for her music, from poetic lyrics, dialects and local music styles. Obrovac allows to her great band a complete freedom of improvisation, building intro. And then, she utters, telling stories with her slightly harsh voice, improvising with syllables. Afterwards, she chattered a bit with her musicians, but got serious at the very next moment, letting us look deeply into her heart. It was somewhat the blues, alternating with fast Slavic rhythm and unconventional mixes, elusive musical style where almost everything is possible and where fire gets inflamed suddenly.
It is no wonder that this woman mesmerized the audience during Croatian day on EXPO 2000 in Hanover.
She enchants Siegen audience as well, with her humour, expressive music, presence and a joy of her music. To touch the moon with Tamara’s music is very easy indeed.
Siegener Zeitung, December 19th 2003, Germany
Supported Voices? Well, try taking away the studio effects from Rokia Traore or the Uzbek superstar Sevara Nazarkhan, and see what you're left with. Unlike Evora or Ferrer, these young singers need the help of technology to weave their spells, and though there's nothing wrong with technology per se, this does sort out minor talents from the major ones. Croatia's Tamara Obrovac tops my bill in this group - a fine artist, with a clever band.
Michael Church, Independent, December, 2003.
Ruvo - First great surprise of the 11th Talos Festival is called Tamara Obrovac. The Istrian singer (41), a native of Pula, was virtually unknown to the audience in Puglia.
Tamara’s music is very distinctive, rich in the motifs from the traditional folk music of Istria blending the melancholic character of a Slavic soul with a dialect based on Latin, so reminiscent of a long period dominated by a Venetian rule. An exquisite acoustic dimension with a touch of melancholy transformed into frenetic and galloping rhythms by means of improvisation, then rapid foot moves, which were intended to remind of tango, and a posture entirely based on performance are the pronounced features of the ensemble that, along with Tamara - delicate, but with a powerful voice and bursting with determination - delights with a superb performance of brilliant Simone Zanchini playing the accordion, who joined forces with great musicians Urosˇ Rakovec on the guitar and mandolin, Salvatore Maiore on the double bass and Kruno Levačić playing drums. This huge success came as a surprise to Tamara as well who, having said: "Well, how have you managed to discover me, who has recommended me?", was completely astonished by the frenzied demand for the CDs she had brought.
Ugo Sbisa, Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, Italy,September 2003
She tornadoes through the stage leaving in her wake an ever increasing number of fans..
Birgit Gabler, Concerto magazine, June 2003, Austria
A gem of Croatian musical production
Tamara Obrovac transhistria ensemble, CD “Everything passes”
Signing it personally, in an original, direct, spontaneous and amusing way, affirming the tradition, the language, the sound and the characteristic and unique richness of the today almost archaic Istrian music, the brilliant singer-songwriter has created her personal and original version of the ethnic trend still so important in the world today.
… she has embodied the melody, the sonority, the unique scale and the autochtonous rhythm into a universal, agreeable and sensitive language understandable on any meridian or parallel, carrying a universal musical and poetic message.
Ivica Zupan, Novi list, Rijeka, March’03
Unusual ingredients from a master’s workshop
Tamara Obrovac has published her fourth album
“Everything passes” sounds, first of all, unbearably light, regardless of its display of musical forms that are not light at all. In a filigree-like performance full of details, with miniatures played on the accordion, the mandolin and the drums, the supporting musicians excellently complement Tamara’s vocal lead, equally effective when singing out the lyrics or when vocalising, when she becomes an additional solo instrument.
Hrvoje Horvat, Vjesnik, Zagreb, March’03
Dnevnik, June 2001, Slovenia
"Maybe the most pleasant surprise is the performance of Tamara Obrovac, who is faithful to jazz, but who also interweaves it with different influences especially with that of her native Istra. In this way she gives birth to something that she in her witty improvisations "defined" as not being jazz nor ethno but her inner feeling. However it may be, with the help of experienced musicians she presented us her own understanding of a rich utterance and a succulent superstructure, which for its pleasantness can`t be compared with some big stars of "Druga godba", even if it without difficulty for its performing power, inventiveness and rich sound reaches if not overcomes them."
J. Potokar, "Dnevnik", Ljubljana, 05.June.2001, Slovenia
"Transhistria Ensemble thrilled the audience"
"Tamara Obrovac is a great singer, her voice is relaxed and persuasive. She finds a way in every situation, in the interpretation of a simple folk song as well as in jazz-coloraturas, where her gift for improvisation becomes prominent. Her music is communicative, stimulative and truthful."
J. Stucin, "Primorske Novice", Nova Gorica, 29.May.2001
"In an original, for us unheard and witty way, by establishing the recognition of the tradition, the language, the sound of the typical today archaic richness of the Istrian melos, Tamara Obrovac has made her own, original and autochthonous variant of the today in the world relevant ethno trend."
I. Zupan, "Glas Istre", Pula, 13.May 2001
"Transhistria Ensemble shows its best side in live performances, where it plays in a spontaneous and relaxed way. Thanks to the experience and an envying musical skill, every member of the band is always ready for shifts and unexpected changes inspired by the atmosphere and by the instantaneous mood. This exceptional work of art reaches with its musical quality, recording and design the top of our music-culture and can proudly represent Croatia in the world."
D. Hrvoj, "Jutarnji List", Zagreb, 28.April 2001
Tamara Obrovac presented her new project the Transhistria Ensemble on the third evening. In addition to her steady musicians (Krunoslav Levacic, drums, Ziga Golob, double bass) she was also joined by Ante Gelo, guitar, Dario Marusic, violin, folk instrumants, Enzo Favata, saxophone and folk instruments and Simone Zanchini, accordion. This was the first performance of the Transhistria ensamble in this lineup, meaning that the International jazz days had the opportunity to present a world premiere. Tamara remains faithful to her expression closely related to her Istrian homeland. Regardless of the objections of some jazz purists that the mentioned band does not have much in common with jazz the Zagreb concert has shown that Croatia is capable of delivering an original artistic expression in the area of modern improvised music and that in Tamara Obrovac Croatia has an artist that can present it originally and with dignity on jazz and ethnic festivals worldwide. The exceptional musicality and sync of all the band members thrilled the public which was most numerous precisely on this concert.
A. T. Saban, Cantus, Croatin composer's society magasine, October 2000
the public has listened to them almost with a religious ardor. Tamara's vocal solos have set fire to the public, she gave the goose pimples - judging by the outrageous applause, and both to the local admirers of Tamara's ethnic-jazz expression and the foreign public that listened to her for the first time. The Ensemble was called out for two encores because the public would not let go?
S. Matejcic, Porec, Glas Istre, daily paper, July 2000
During the presentation of the songs from her last album "Ulika" and some new compositions with her transhistria ensemble, Tamara Obrovac, supported by exceptional musicians has proven to be the master of her voice to an exceptional level of vocal expression, to have spirit, spontaneity and the ability to create an intimate relationship with the public. As the only Croatian band they have proven to be on the same level, if not better than others.
D. Hrvoj, Zagreb, Jutarnji list, July 2000.
The composer and singer Tamara Obrovac gave a brilliant performance accompanied by her exellent musicians.. Her rendition of her own composition based on the poem written by Loredana Bogliun "Touch the Moon" can without a doubt be classed among the best vocal performances in the world.
Denis Derk, Zagreb, Vecernji list, June 2000
Without any doubt the best performance was that of Tamara Obrovac and her Transhistria Ensamble (Krunoslav Leva?i? on the percussions, Elvis Stani? on the acoustic guitar and accordion, Dario Maru?i? on the violin and the excellent double bass player from New York). The always funny Tamara kept raising the atmosphere in the theatre minute by minute with her spontaneity followed by her excellent band.
D. Dobrila, Pula, Glas Istre, February 2000
On Friday night there was a extraordinary concert by the TRANSHISTRIA ENSEMBLE which was recently founded by the singer, flautist and composer Tamara Obrovac from Pula.
M. Gombac, Koper, Slovenia, Primorske novice, September 1999
From "difficult" jazz compositions to Istrian "rap": this is a repertoire capable to draw the attention of the best connoisseurs.
Allessio Brunlalti, La Provincia, Commo, Italy
Histrionic and direct in her relationship with the public, a perfect master of the scene, Tamara Obrovac has proven that she has found and achieved a very original stylistic objective in which a deep knowledge of jazz perfectly blends with the rediscovered cultural heritage of Istria.
G. Almerigogna, Gorizia, Italia, Il Piccolo, March '99
excellent... this is a work filled with strong inner force which reinterprets the traditional popular sound in a manner yet unheard-of.
Bojan Muscet, Zagreb, September '98
